Matthew J. Mahler, 22, of Vacherie was thrown from a four-wheeler and was run over by a car on Louisiana Highway 10, state police said. Mahler was riding west in a drainage ditch that runs along the highway when he hit a culvert, flipped the ATV and was thrown into the westbound lane of Highway 10.

It was a busy weekend at the Tower Trax ATV Park in Fluker as thousands of people on motor bikes and ATVs spent hours on the 40 miles of trails throughout the property.

Mahler’s ATV ran into trouble late Friday night.

“His bike was overheating,” said Lee Mack, manager of Tower Trax.

Instead of finding a nearby cooling station or taking the trail back to the parking lot for help, Mahler opted to drive along the highway, Mack said.

“Unfortunately, he hit a culvert that he could not see at 10:30 at night, and it flipped his bike, threw him into the highway and tragically, a car came and ran over him,” Mack said.

State police and Tower Trax management said Mahler should not have gone past the fence that marks the end of Tower Trax’s property.

“It says all-terrain but asphalt roadways are not part of that terrain,” Marchand said. “It’s made to be driven off road through mud, grass and things like that. It’s not registered, it’s not lighted and to be on the road with regular traffic.”

Investigators want the person who hit Mahler to come forward.

“Not that it’s malicious that they fled. They might not have realized what they did, being the dark of the highway,” Marchand said.

Police are looking for the driver of a dark-colored, possibly four-door sedan with damage to the front or undercarriage.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call state police at 985-893-6250.